android-Adding Search Functionality,Setting Up the Search Interface

Android's built-in search features offer apps an easy way to provide a consistent search experience for all users. There are two ways to implement search in your app depending
on the version of Android that is running on the device. This class covers how to add search with

SearchView

,
which was introduced in Android 3.0, while maintaining backward compatibility with older versions of Android by using the default search dialog provided by the system.

Beginning in Android 3.0, using the

SearchView

widget as an item in
the app bar is the preferred way to provide search in your app. Like with all items in the app bar, you can define the

SearchView

to
show at all times, only when there is room, or as a collapsible action, which displays the

SearchView

as
an icon initially, then takes up the entire app bar as a search field when the user clicks the icon.

Note: Later in this class, you will learn how to make your app compatible down to Android 2.1 (API level 7) for devices that do not support

SearchView

.

Because of the limited app bar space on handset devices, using the

collapsibleActionView

attribute is recommended to provide a better user experience.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<menu xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
<item android:id="@+id/search"
android:title="@string/search_title"
android:icon="@drawable/ic_search"
android:showAsAction="collapseActionView|ifRoom"
android:actionViewClass="android.widget.SearchView" />
</menu>

Note: If you already have an existing XML file for your menu items, you can add the

<item>

element to that file instead.
> In the

onCreateOptionsMenu()

method
that you created before, associate the searchable configuration with the

SearchView

by
calling

setSearchableInfo(SearchableInfo)

:

@Override
public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu) {
MenuInflater inflater = getMenuInflater();
inflater.inflate(R.menu.options_menu, menu);

// Associate searchable configuration with the SearchView
SearchManager searchManager =
(SearchManager) getSystemService(Context.SEARCH_SERVICE);
SearchView searchView =
(SearchView) menu.findItem(R.id.search).getActionView();
searchView.setSearchableInfo(
searchManager.getSearchableInfo(getComponentName()));

return true;
}

<activity android:name=".SearchResultsActivity" ... >
...
<intent-filter>
<action android:name="android.intent.action.SEARCH" />
</intent-filter>
...
</activity>

In your searchable activity, handle the

ACTION_SEARCH

intent
by checking for it in your

onCreate()

method.

Note: If your searchable activity launches in single top mode (

android:launchMode="singleTop"

), also handle the

ACTION_SEARCH

intent
in the

onNewIntent()

method. In single
top mode, only one instance of your activity is created and subsequent calls to start your activity do not create a new activity on the stack. This launch mode is useful so users can perform searches from the same activity without creating a new activity instance
every time.